Hansen Manufacturing Corp. Of Sioux Falls, S. Dak., makes and sells enclosed belt conveyors under the trademark HI ROLLER.TM., in which the belt and the elements that support it are completely enclosed in a housing, which includes an elongated, U-shaped structure that is usually called the "trunking" and a cover over the open top of the trunking. The covered trunking provides a structural support for troughing idlers, the belt and the material being conveyed, protects the material being conveyed by keeping out foreign substances and, in an outside installation, rain and snow, and keeps dust and any fugitive material that falls from the belt from entering the environment. The previously known HI ROLLER.TM. conveyors, which are in widespread use for conveying various materials, especially grains, all provide delivery at the head end or at the head end and one or more intermediate stationary discharge units along the conveyor upstream from the head end.
It is common for a material that is being conveyed by a belt conveyor to be ultimately delivered to several locations, such as a group of storage bins or to different locations in a single storage bin. One form of belt conveyor that provides delivery to multiple locations is an open traveling tripper belt conveyor, a conveyor that is equipped with a traveling tripper that includes a tripper and a valve. It is also well-known to use an enclosed conveyor that discharges to a distributor, which, in turn, delivers the material to the several bins or locations in a single bin, or to incorporate one or more stationary tripper units in an enclosed conveyor, each of which discharges to a different point.
Like all open belt conveyors, open traveling tripper belt conveyors, even when installed under a cover for weather protection, allow dust and fugitive material to escape to the environment and require constant, costly cleanup. Previously known enclosed belt conveyors with fixed tripper units and enclosed belt conveyors delivering to distributors are costly to fabricate and install, although the cost is fully justifiable by almost completely eliminating escape of dust and fugitive material to the environment.